Breaking slump was a piece of cake

April 11, 2007 | Boston Globe| By Michael Vega

 

The Captain will celebrate his 35th birthday today.

As an early gift, Jason Varitek treated himself to a day of beauty at the plate, going 3 for 4 with a walk, two singles, a double, and three RBIs in yesterday's 14-3 romp over the Seattle Mariners.

The 35,847 Fenway Faithful who witnessed Boston's 14-hit eruption had to be relieved seeing Varitek break out of the hitting slump that caused him to hit just .125 in the Red Sox' season-opening road trip and only .159 (7 for 44) in 16 exhibition games.

As is his custom after he catches, Varitek makes himself available to the media to offer his analysis of the starting pitcher. Yesterday it was Josh Beckett, who allowed just a run and two hits over seven innings while striking out eight.

"Josh threw an excellent game," said Varitek. "He mixed in all his pitches, and it didn't matter what the score was. He had a good feel for his secondary pitches, which made his fastball all the better."

On the subject of his offensive production, though, Varitek was demure.

"I had the balls fall today," he said. "I hit some balls well on the road trip that got zero results. We continued to try and make adjustments. Today, we just found some holes."

In six games in Kansas City and Texas, Varitek went 2 for 16 with 2 RBIs and many well-struck outs. Returning to Fenway's friendly confines doubled his batting average to .250.

"He could have come off that road trip with four home runs and nobody will ever remember that," said manager Terry Francona. "He cut balls in Kansas City more than Texas. We kind of keep track of that because when a guy looks up and sees his batting average low, but is hitting some balls right on the nose in the wind or with cold weather, that's about all we can ask of him. So I think he felt pretty good about himself, but hits help."

Not that Varitek expressed much concern about his offensive production in the spring. The only thing he said he kept searching for was a comfort zone.

Suffice it to say, yesterday the Captain seemed so comfortable at the plate, he could have been hitting from a Barcalounger.

"We tried to change my mechanics and do different things and lately we went back to something I'm more used to, taking little progressions and trying to get my at-bats in," Varitek said. "You're not having the consistency of at-bats in the spring, either, especially at my position, so we'll just keep working on it."

In his first trip to the plate, Varitek drew a walk from Seattle righthander Jeff Weaver. In his second at-bat, Varitek led off the third inning with a single to left off reliever Jake Woods and scored Boston's eighth run on Julio Lugo's RBI single to left.

With runners on second and third in the fourth inning, Varitek capped a three-run outburst with a two-run single to center. He added a run-scoring double to left in the fifth, giving him one more hit and RBI than he'd had all season.

"There's no need to worry about Varitek," said Kevin Youkilis. "For him, last year was a struggle with his knee and all that, and the big thing now is staying strong and going out there and just having good at-bats.

"He's here for one reason, mainly. But when you get the offensive bonus, that's what makes him one of the best catchers in the game. For us, it's him handling the pitching staff and everything else after that is an added bonus for our team."

Asked how he will celebrate his 35th birthday tonight, Varitek replied, "Just gonna try to help us win another game." Of course, he hopes his bat has a say. But if it doesn't, so be it.

"You have to try and take the little nuggets that you can take without letting things get too far away from you," Varitek said. "Regardless of that, I can still be hitless for a month and still help this team win. I have to really believe that and hold onto that to provide the stability back there that the pitching staff needs."